News Releases

New Monument in the Triangle Honors Veterans.

Presidio is on TV

AGRESSIVE AND FAST EMS SERVICE NOW IN PRESIDIO

On your next trip think “BIG”!

The Largest State Park in Texas, Big Bend Ranch State Park, 311,000 acres to explore; over 400 square miles that represents 1/2 of Texas’ State Park Land. Presidio is the only and closest incorporated City on the Border and Rio Grande at the western entrance on FM 170 to the Big Bend Ranch State Park.

It’s Green in the Desert

Chevron Energy Solutions and Sun Edison is now in Presidio, Texas. a 10 mega watt solar electrical generating plant is now complete. The City of Presidio is powered by the sun during day light hours. See the Acacia Solar Plant at the top of this page.

Texas Pioneers Energy Storage in Giant Battery

Presidio, Texas, has one link to U.S. electrical power, stretching some 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Marfa in the high desert to the banks of the Rio Grande.

Built in 1948, the transmission line was around when Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean walked Marfa’s streets while filming the epic movie Giant.

Electrical storms erupt frequently in the rugged expanse between Marfa, nearly one mile (1,600 meters) above sea level, and Presidio, on the Mexico border, “one of the hottest places in the nation,” in the words of city administrator Brad Newton. “It really creates a situation unique to our geographic area,” he says.

An aging transmission line built in 1948 is the only link between the U.S. power grid and the little city of Presidio in West Texas. So Presidio has invested in a single huge battery that can power the entire town and serve as emergency backup for the frequent outages caused by the line going down, NPR reports.

The huge battery began charging up this week and can store up to four megawatts of power for up to eight hours. It represents the first NaS battery in Texas and the biggest in the U.S., and has already earned the local nickname of BOB (big-old battery).